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Report: Half of Detroit property owners didn’t pay taxes

Records show that nearly half of the owners of Detroit’s 305,000 properties failed to pay their tax bills last year, exacerbating the city’s financial crisis.

The Detroit News reviewed more than 200,000 pages of tax documents and found that the owners of 47 percent of the city’s taxable parcels are delinquent on their 2011 bills.

In a story published today, the newspaper reported that $246.5 million in taxes and fees went uncollected, about half of which was due to Detroit. The rest of the money was for entities including Wayne County, Detroit Public Schools and the library system.

The review found 77 blocks had only one owner who paid taxes last year.

On Tuesday, a state-appointed review team found Detroit was in a financial emergency and forwarded its report to the governor for review.